Polkadraai Hills

This lesser-known corner of South Africa’s Stellenbosch region is starting to turn heads, thanks to its special soils and a close-knit community of talented young winemakers

- TIM ATKIN MW

Soon after he bought his 2ha farm in the Polkadraai Hills, renowned South African winemaker Bruwer Raats got talking to  another well-known producer on the Helderberg, widely considered one of Stellenbosch’s most prestigious sub-regions. His interlocutor was incredulous. ‘You’re kidding me, right? If the Simonsberg is the head of Stellenbosch and the Helderberg its heart, then the Polkadraai Hills are its arse.’

That conversation took place just 20 years ago. At the time, full-bodied reds were the dominant style in Stellenbosch, preferably based on or made entirely from Cabernet Sauvignon. South Africa was still in its ‘bigger is better’ phase, although new-wave winemakers were beginning to do other things.

Raats saw the potential of the Polkadraai Hills. ‘You can’t make powerful wines on granite,’ he says, referring to the sub-region’s dominant soil type. ‘What I was after was purity, freshness and lower alcohol levels.’ If anything, the region’s poor reputation worked in his favour. ‘It was the cheapest agricultural land in Stellenbosch. I got it for a song.’ 

Even further ahead of the curve was Jacques Borman. In 1993, he was the distinguished winemaker at La Motte and looking to develop his own brand. The original idea was to buy a piece of land in Franschhoek, near his place of work, but he changed his mind when he tasted a Cabernet Sauvignon from five-year-old vines on the Reyneke farm in the Polkadraai Hills. The grapes were so good that Borman purchased a nearby property and wisely changed its name from the hard-to-pronounce Goedgelegen to Boschkloof. Today, his son Reenen makes one of the world’s greatest Syrah wines, Epilogue, from that very site.